iowa state university

Iowa State University (ISU) is a public land-grant university located in Ames, Iowa. The full official name is Iowa State University of Science and Technology. It was previously Iowa State College, a school created through the Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act.

The Iowa General Assembly in 1858, prior to the passage of the Morrill Act of 1862, enacted legislation to establish a agriculture college and model farm. This college was named the State Agricultural College & Model Farm. The location of Story County was chosen on June 21, 1859 after the state selection board received proposals from Johnson, Kossuth, Marshall, Polk, and Story counties.

Landmarks

Nearing its sesquicentennial in 2008, ISU now has a number of landmarks on campus. Please visit the ISU notables page for many of the beautiful landmarks.

Academics

ISU is best known for its degree programs in engineering and agriculture. The Family and Consumer Sciences and Education colleges are in the process of merging, and a new name has not yet been decided. ISU is also home of one of the first computers, the Atanasoff Berry Computer. It consists of the following colleges:

In addition to these eight colleges, the Graduate College oversees graduate study in all fields.

Athletics

The sports teams are nicknamed the "Cyclones," which dates to 1895, when the Iowa State football team went to Northwestern University and defeated its team 36-0. A Chicago newspaper proclaimed that the team "struck like a Cyclone." The Cyclone mascot is "Cy the Cardinal," and their colors are cardinal and gold. They play in the NCAA's Division I-A as part of the Big Twelve Conference.

VEISHEA celebration

It is also noted for VEISHEA, an education and entertainment festival held on campus every spring. The name is an acronym created from the names of the original colleges consituting the institution when VEISHEA was established in 1922: Veterinary Medicine, Engineering, Industrial Science, Home Economics, and Agriculture. Its organizers claim it to be among the largest student-organized cultural festivals in the world. However in recent years the festival has been marred by problems. Unruly students created a disturbance ("rioted") on Welch Avenue in 1988 at 1992, prompting school officials to take away the traditional Thursday afternoon and Friday holidays before the celebration. Problems continued. In 1997, an underage non-student was fatally stabbed by another non-student outside a fraternity party. In response, alcohol was banned during VEISHEA. In 2004, a riot took place during VEISHEA when police confronted people during an off-campus party. Because of the riot, officials announced that there would be no VEISHEA festival during 2005. The festival will return in 2006, with events being moved from riot-prone Welch Avenue to central campus.

Iowa State presidents

Adonijah S. Welch (1868 – 1883)
Seaman A. Knapp (1883 – 1884)
Leigh S.J. Hunt (1885 – 1886)
William I. Chamberlain (1886 – 1890)
William M. Beardshear (1891 – 1902)
Albert B. Storms (1903 – 1910)
Raymond A. Pearson (1912 – 1926)
Raymond M. Hughes (1927 – 1936)
Charles E. Friley (1936 – 1953)
James H. Hilton (1953 – 1965)
W. Robert Parks (1965 – 1986)
Gordon P. Eaton (1986 – 1990)
Martin C. Jischke (June 1, 1991 – August 14, 2000)
Gregory L. Geoffroy (July 1, 2001 – present)

Notable people

See ISU notables for a complete list.

Alumni

John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford E. Berry (see also Atanasoff Berry Computer), developers of the first digital computer
George Washington Carver, first African-American student and faculty member; musician, artist, orator, athletic trainer and student leader
Carrie Chapman Catt, was a women's rights activist
John Garang, Commander of the Sudan People's Liberation Army
Henry Gilman, the "Father of Organometallic Chemistry"
Christian Petersen, sculptor, whose works appear around campus.
Jane Smiley, winner of the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for fiction
George W. Snedecor, statistician
James Wilson, professor who later became US Secretary of Agriculture

Athletics

Larry Eustachy, former men's basketball coach
Dan Gable, two-time NCAA wrestling champion and 1972 Olympic gold medalist who later became wrestling coach at the University of Iowa
Cael Sanderson, four-time undefeated NCAA wrestling champion who won a gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece

Iowa State chronology

Events occurring in the same year did not necessarily happen in the order presented here.

Year	Event
1858	Iowa General Assembly enacted legislation for creation of the State Agricultural College & Model Farm
1859	Story County was the chosen county for the State Agricultural College & Model Farm
1860	Construction starts on Farm House
1862	Morrill Act of 1862 was passed; college to be named Iowa State Agricultural College
1884	Construction of English Office Building finished
1891	Construction of Morrill Hall finished
1891	First run of Dinkey on July 4
1892	Addition made to the English Office Building
1892	Construction of The Hub
1895	Football team nicknamed Cyclones for their performance against Northwestern University
1895	Severe water shortage; classes cancelled; spurred construction of the Marston Water Tower
1897	Construction for the Campanile was started on Central Campus
1897	Construction of the Marston Water Tower
1898	Renamed the Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts
1903	Construction of Marston Hall finished
1904	Construction first started on what would be the Alumni Hall
1897	End of operation of Dinkey; start of operation of an electric streetcar
1908	Construction of Central Building finished
1908	President's, Vice-president's, & Treasurer's offices moved from Office Building to Beardshear Hall
1920	Edgar W. Stanton dies and 26 bells are added to the carillon in the Campanile (36 bells total)
1922	VEISHEA was established
1929	Construction of the Memorial Union finished
1938	Central Building renamed to Beardshear Hall
1939	The Atanasoff Berry Computer is first demonstrated
1940	English department moves into Office Building and is renamed to English Office Building
1941	The Fountain of Four Seasons is sculpted by Christian Petersen
1954	13 more bells were added to the carillon in the Campnaile (49 bells total)
1959	Renamed the Iowa State University of Science and Technology
1967	Bessey Hall opens for use
1967	1 more bell was added to the carillon in the Campanile (50 bells total)
1969	Construction of Stephens Auditorium finished
1973	English and speech departments relocate from English Office Building to Ross Hall & Pearson Hall, respectively
1978	Alumni Hall placed on the National Register of Historic Places
1978	The Marston Water Tower is disconnected from use
1982	The Marston Water Tower is added to the National Register of Historic Places
1983	Marston Hall placed on the National Register of Historic Places
1984	Library named the W. Robert and Ellen Sorge Parks Library
1996	Morrill Hall determined unsafe for occupancy
1997	Restoration of the Marston Water Tower
1999	Central Campus is listed as a "medallion site" by the American Society of Landscape Architects
2003	Control of the Memorial Union was transferred to ISU
2004	VEISHEA riot; resulted in VEISHEA for 2005 being cancelled
2004	English Office Building demolished
2005	Two of the Towers residence halls, Knapp and Storms, to be demolished
2008	Sesquicentennial of Iowa State